Individual absorbent articles for personal hygiene articles are protected from the environment by sheets of material commonly referred to as wrappers or overwrap. Tampons, in particular, have employed wrappers in which each tampon is encased in a separate primary package, which may be then be sold in quantity in secondary packaging often a box.
Tampons are generally categorized in two classes: applicator tampons and digital tampons. The wrapper for an applicator tampon is typically elongated, loose, and flange or fin sealed at the ends with a small cut or notch at one end which the user uses to tear open the wrapper in a longitudinal fashion. The wrapper for a digital tampon is typically tight fitting, often contacting the outer surface of the tampon completely about the perimeter and sealed against the tampon at both the insertion and withdrawal end. This tight wrapping may help maintain the shape of the tampon and prevent deformation.
Over the years there have developed many issues with the wrappers for digital tampons. Sometimes the tampon has “relaxed” after compression and is difficult to remove from a wrapper due to the snugness of the fit. Some wrapper materials may actually stick to the outer surface of the tampon and be difficult to remove due to material interaction, causing the user to pry off the overwrap from the tampon. See, for example, WO 2004/080362. Other times, depending on the choice of material for the wrapper, there may be a static charge to the wrapper which causes the pieces of the wrapper to cling to the user's fingers after the wrapper seal has been broken and the tampon removed. Additionally, when a wrapper is separated into multiple pieces, it is annoying to have to keep those pieces together in one hand while trying to insert the tampon with the other hand.
Therefore, what is needed is a wrapper that can be removed from the enclosed tampon without difficulty and without the wrapper separating into multiple pieces of material.